Over the last week or so, all 67 Property Appraisers in Florida have mailed Truth in Millage (TRIM) notices to all property owners around the state, indicating 2019 valuation for each property. These notices have either been received or will be waiting in your mailbox soon (the valuations can also be found online at this point). The TRIM notices are sent to the mailing address on record at the Property Appraiser’s offices, so pay attention if that address is a registered agent or some other less-often-used address. As noted above, these TRIM notices show the property tax assessments and market values for 2019, as well as estimated property taxes for this tax year. Property owners have only 25 days from the mailing of the TRIM notice to review the valuation and challenge the valuation (market or assessed) on the property. The valuation challenge deadline is noted on the TRIM notice.

Annually, we advise all property owners to carefully review their TRIM notices as soon as they are received. Property values have continued to creep up, with some more significant increases on certain types of property. As with prior years, we recommend that property owners pay close attention to both your assessed values and market values. While assessed values are capped at 10% for non-homestead properties and 3% for homesteaded properties, there is no such limitation on the increase in market values. In other words, your property’s market value can increase significantly, which impacts the taxes you pay for the school board (usually between 40-50% of your total taxes).